Wrath of the Rat King

“Wrath of the Rat King”
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987) episode
Season Code:	08
Episode:	02
Original airdate	September 17, 1994
Written by	David Wise
Producers:
Episode chronology ← Previous Next → "Get Shredder!" "Cyber-Turtles"

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1994 Season 1994 List of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles episodes

Episodes: "Get Shredder!" "Wrath of the Rat King" "Cyber-Turtles" "State of Shock" "Cry H.A.V.O.C.!" "H.A.V.O.C. in the Streets!" "Enter: Krakus" "Turtle Trek" 1987 Season – 1988 Season – 1989 Season – 1990 Season – 1991 Season – 1992 Season – 1992-1993 Vacation in Europe sideseason – 1993 Season – 1994 Season – 1995 Season – 1996 Season

Wrath of the Rat King is the second episode of Season 8, part of the Red Sky season.

Appearing in Wrath of the Rat King

Major characters

• Leonardo (Cam Clarke)
• Donatello (Barry Gordon)
• Raphael (Rob Paulsen)
• Michelangelo (Townsend Coleman)
• Splinter (Peter Renaday)
• April O'Neil (Renae Jacobs)
• Vernon Fenwick (Peter Renaday)
• Shredder (Bill Martin)
• Krang (Pat Fraley)

Minor characters

• Bebop (Barry Gordon)
• Burne Thompson (Pat Fraley)
• Traag (Peter Renaday)
• Rocksteady (Cam Clarke)
• Rock Soldiers
• Rat King (Townsend Coleman)
• Phil
• Policeman (Pat Fraley)

Species

• Disembodied Alien brain
• Human
• Mutant rat
• Mutant rhinoceros
• Mutant turtle
• Mutant warthog
• Rock soldiers

Objects and vehicles

• April's Sports Car
• Bō
• Retro Mutagen Ray Generator
• Shock Wave
• Turtle Van

Locations

• City sewers
• Hall of Science
• Technodrome
• Temporary Channel 6 building
• Turtle Lair

Plot

The Turtles attack the Hall of Science in an effort to flush out Shredder and Krang, but they're driven back by Rocksteady and Bebop using lasers and a catapult.

To get rid of the Turtles, Shredder seeks out the Rat King and offers him a deal: a new type of mutagen for his rats if he destroys the Turtles. When the Turtles return to their lair in dejection, they're greeted with an enraged Rat King, who blows out one of their walls and sweeps them away on a tidal wave of water. Presuming them dead or defeated, he goes off to get the mutagen.

Meanwhile, Krang has been contacting General Traag in Dimension X and learns the bad news about the Technodrome: it's stuck in a black hole, and nothing in Berserko's lab could get it out. So Krang orders Traag to send him the Shock Wave, a powerful weapon kept in the Technodrome. But because of the gravity anomalies, it ends up landing in a street and being mistaken for a bomb by the police. Desperate to get the Shock Wave back, Krang has the idea of mutating the Rat King's rats and using them to burrow into police headquarters.

After seeing another slanderous Channel 6 broadcast, the Turtles are depressed. Leonardo and Donatello have begun to think that they are causing as much trouble as they stop, and that (having lost to the Rat King, Bebop and Rocksteady in the same day) they may have lost their heroic touch. When they tell Splinter that they may not bother stopping Shredder and Krang, an enraged Splinter vows to go himself if they won't.

The Giant rats are formidable enemies for the Turtles, nearly collapsing a building on them. But fortunately, Donatello still has the retro-mutagen ray and goes to fetch it.

Once the police station has been invaded, the Rat King betrays his allies and steals the Shock Wave for himself, blasting the ground open under the Turtles. Fortunately, Donatello is able to grab the retro-mutagen ray and return the rats to normal. They manage to stop the Rat King and destroy the Shock Wave, which April O'Neil successfully records.

As the story ends, April breaks the news of the Turtles' heroic actions on live TV, which causes an enraged Burne to demand she now work in the mailroom.

See also

• Wrath of the Rat King/Gallery
• Wrath of the Rat King/Transcript

Notes and errors

• Final appearance of the Rat King in the series. He is also finally brought to justice, whereas he had managed to avoid capture by the Turtles in previous episodes.
• The Rat King is presented in a much more mature, sinister way than in the previous episodes he had starred in, rather than an over-the-top joke villain. In fact, the Turtles often note that he has changed drastically.
• The Turtles say they have Shredder's retromutagen ray, but in "Revenge of the Fly," Leonardo destroyed it. The Turtles never even considered using it to turn Splinter back into his human form. The ray gun also looks different.
• In previous episodes, the Rat King controlled his rats with a flute; in this episode he doesn't use a flute at all. Leonardo refers to him as having telepathic rat-controlling powers at one point.
• Rat King's eyes glow a bright baleful red when he greets Shredder. He never had this ability before, and it isn't clear how he came by it.
• The buttons on Bebop and Rocksteady's catapult are red, but in a closeup shot they are gray, right before the turtles flee in the Turtle Van.
• When the Rat King attacks the Turtles' lair, the blaster he uses doesn't make any noise the first two times he fires it after the commercial break.
• Right before the Rat King attacks the Turtles with Krang's Shockwave weapon, there is a massive explosion as the Turtles exit the Turtle Van. A layering issue causes one of Donatello's legs to vanish behind the Turtle Van as he shields himself from the explosion.
• The footage that April broadcasts of the Turtles hogtying the Rat King is filmed from in front of the turtles, despite the fact that April is behind them when she films it.
• One of the giant rats bites off the end of Donatello's bo, but it appears to be intact in the next shot.
• When the Turtles are recovering from being washed away in a flood, Michelangelo is wearing Donatello's colors.

Home media releases

VHS

• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Get Shredder

DVD

• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Complete Season 8
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Complete Classic Series Collection